Biotech group Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) has awarded a
pan-European account to City PR firm Square Mile BSMG.
The account was won following a four-way competitive pitch, including
four-year incumbent HCC De Facto.
CAT, which has a pounds 500m market cap, has tasked Square Mile's life
sciences team with handling all financial PR and IR in the UK and
Europe.
Square Mile director Kevin Smith and chairman Tim Jackaman lead the
account, reporting to CAT head of corporate communications Rowena
Gardner.
Smith said the agency will use parent company BSMG's German network for
European PR, with possible help from sister agencies in Italy and
France.
The remit includes media and IR, financial calendar work and liaising
with analysts.
'Our brief is to really develop the company's financial communications
and target key financial audiences,' said Smith.
Gardner said this is the first major European PR push CAT has invested
in.
'We have an increasing global investment business and a very global
business in terms of the biotechnology industry and there are some key
countries in Europe where there's either biotechnology activities or
interest from investors,' she said.
CAT is currently listed on the London Stock Exchange and is looking to
list on the Nasdaq in the US, although no date has been set.
Based in Cambridge, the firm uses its proprietary technologies in human
monoclonal antibodies for drug discovery and development.
It has four products in clinical development, the most advanced being
for rheumatoid arthritis.
